United Kingdom: Autonomous Vehicles To Be Tested On Public Roads

The Government of His Majesty has given the green light for the testing of autonomous vehicles on public roads. These tests will be conducted on selected routes and the public can not participate.

The UK has just taken a decisive step towards the autonomous cars. On Wednesday, February 11, 2015, the British authorities have allowed the automobile industry to continue their tests directly on the public highways. The approval was granted after a six-month review of whether the country is ready the vehicles of such kind.

The announcement made by the Transportation and business development department allows Britain to keep up with the schedule that had been announced six months ago. But we will have to wait for at least two years to see more sophisticated autonomous automobiles traveling on a road network.

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This small vehicle adorned with the colors of the Union Jack is one of the autonomous vehicle models that will be tested shortly on roads open to UK.

Lutz Passenger Pod is one of two autonomous vehicles that have been authorized to carry out tests on open roads in the UK. The trials will take place this year in the cities of Milton Keynes and Coventry for this model, as well as, in the Borough district of south London for the second model called Meridian.

As noted by The Verge , only a small number of these vehicles will be put onto roads with higher set limit. The general public can not drive. The autonomous cars will have licensed drivers behind the wheel ready to take control in case of problems. In France, the release of the first autonomous cars on the road is also planned for this year